MUSIC PLAYING  -  "MY DONUT GIRL"

This Army Medic Is Proud To Pay Tribute To
"Our Donut Dollies"
Jeff Dentice (Doc) Muskego, WI.
Medic in CuChi, Vietnam in 1967/1968

 

DOC IS LOOKING FOR INFORMATION ON:
Bridget Gregory, a nurse with the Red Cross stationed aboard
the USS Sanctuary off the coast of Vietnam in 1968-1969.
I understand she did live for awhile in Big Bend, WI. when she
wrote the book - Love Wisconsin - Dear Vietnam.
Doc lives only a few miles away from Big Bend, WI.
Please email him at: docdentice@wi.rr.com

Welcome Home To Our Donut Dollies
The Documentary Will Be Out Soon
Recognition & A Thank You Much Deserved..
VISIT THE SITE

WHO ARE THESE DOLLIES ? WHERE N WHEN IN NAM ?
EMAIL DOC - docdentice@wi.rr.com

Cathy-Brown-DD’s-at-4th-Infantry-Camp-Enari-June-1968-
LR-Kay-Brownfield-Frances-Stewart-Wilma-Rawls-Lois-Hamilton-Cathy-Knutson-Vicki-Kohlman-

 

R.I.P. EMILY
VIDEO - EMILY RECEIVES THANK YOU IN WISCONSIN
Hospice & Red Cross Salute "Donut Dollies"

Emily Strange - Donut Dollie
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
"Doc's Very Dear Friend"

Jim Fliss Created This Photo Show For Doc
Using his and Docs pictures from his dollies page.

 

WELCOME HOME TO ALL OF OUR DONUT DOLLIES - THANK YOU FOR SERVING - YOU BROUGHT A TOUCH OF HOME TO OUR TROOPS - WE WILL NEVER FORGET
 

Looking For Our Donut Dollies
Click On The Link And If You See Your Picture
Email Doc

DOLLIES SEEING THEIR PICTURES ON THIS SITE
Please let Doc know, and he will add names to pictures.
Have pictures you would like to share with other Dollies & our Troops?
Name / Names of those in the picture -  When & Where they were taken.
Please send them to me.

Any Dollies Planning A Reunion
Send Doc A Flyer
Thank You
Doc

 

Donut Dollie Margo Smith(Timberlake) is looking for Donut Dollie Sandy Fondong
who served in Vietnam in Chu Lai or Quang Tri with her.
(I can't remember which time we were together) in 1971.
We then back-packed around Europe together for 3 months after coming home.
I know she married Mike Exline in 1972 or 1973, but we have lost touch.
Please Contact
Margo
mtimberl@bellsouth.net

Looking For Maureen ("Mo") Connolly
My friend MO was a Red Cross Donut Dollie I met in Fort Ord in '65.  I then went to Panama for a few
years, and then on to Viet Nam.  After I got back from Viet Nam, we got together again at
Fort Carson in early '69.  She told me then that she had also gone to Panama, and then Viet Nam in the
between years!  I don't know where she was in 'Nam.  Her name was Maureen ("Mo") Connolly
(maybe Connelly), and she was from Northern California (Berkeley?).
Bill Meilahn  1st Infantry Div 67-69 Vietnam
 

BUY THE SOFT COVER BOOK
 JOANS WEBSITE
Contact Joan
jkotcher2@gmail.com

Dear Doc
 Thank you for posting the picture of my book.
 But, most of all, thank you for setting up this beautiful web site.
I go to it quite often, and truly enjoy the pictures and the memories they bring back.
Other Dollies have told me they sure appreciate your doing this for them.
I have received emails from people who have stumbled upon it.
They email me and tell me that they have found this great Donut Dolly web site and send me the link.
I always go to the web site, spend some time looking at it, and then thank the person who sent me there.
I tell them how much I enjoyed it.
Your work has made a lot of people happy.
Thank you.
Joann Puffer Kotcher
 

Looking For My Dollie (Bonnie Broyles)
CuChi Vietnam 67/68
Contact:
Col. Bob Broyles (Ret)
robertfbroyles@gmail.com
 

Dorset Hoogland Anderson & Julie Pence


__Donut Dollies__
A Trip Back To Nam

Mary Blanchard-Bowe and Dorset Hoogland Anderson
The untold story of American women, who volunteered to go to Vietnam
on an impossible mission: To help the Troops forget about the war.
Two Dollies will retrace their 1968/1969 tour of duty In-Country.
Cu Chi - Na Trang  - Tuy Hoa - Cam Rahn Bay - Pleiku - Qui Nhon
Their entire trip to Vietnam, will be captured on film, for all to remember.

Hello Jeff Doc Dentice!
     I did not intend to take so very long to respond  to, and praise, your wonderful Tribute to The Donut Dollies !
I feel so grateful, proud, humbled and peaceful inside when I read your words about The Dollies.
The photos are wonderful. I realize once again the wonder if it all.
I am sure all the Donut Dollies must feel the same way.
Let's hope that this Donut Dollie Documentary can become a reality.
I thank you for all you have done !
It will be a pleasure to meet you someday Jeff Doc Dentice.
My best wishes to you
Vietnam Donut Dollie Dorset Hoogland

Hi Doc,
Here's my Donut Dolly picture.
I would love any of the girls or guys from Korea in 19170-71 to contact me.
This picture was from Camp Casey in Korea f1970.
Thanks for helping with this.
Marcia Monson
shooie123@gmail.com

Doc, I have attached the photo I was telling you about in previous email.
In the photo we had just landed at a camp near Tam Ky. It was the fall of
1967. We had been doing missions in that area with our Chinook gunships. We
were out of the 1st Cav base camp at An Khe in the Central Highlands. The
ladies hitched a ride from An Khe to Tam Ky. It was a memorable ride for all
of us on the crew of the gunship that day. I am looking for someone who
could possibly identify the ladies and let me know if they are still alive
and if so where they are. Thanks for whatever you can do. Sorry I do not
have any other information about them.

Regards,
Dave Knudsen

---The Donut Dollies Documentary---
Unsung Red Cross heroines who served our troops during the Vietnam War
The untold story of the American women who volunteered to go to Vietnam on
an impossible mission: help the troops forget about the war.

 

Combat Nurses and Donut Dollies
New York Times
January 31, 2017

HERO'S - DONUT GIRLS - WWI
Picture this… it's Spring 1917 and America has just entered World War I fighting.
Mud, bullets, explosions, blood, death and fear were all round. Into that chaos and on the soil of France, who showed up?
Non other than The Salvation Army, that's who. Evangeline Booth (US National Commander) was moved to help in whatever way possible
and sent over a handful of courageous officers into the thick of the fray.

A DOUGHNUT SHOP IS BORN
In the Fall of 1917, something needed to be done. The chaos of the situation along with 36 days of straight rain was taking it's emotional
toll on the soldiers and depression crept into camp. How did these officers respond? They decided the boys needed some lovin' in the
form of some good ol' home cookin' to lift their spirits. Options were limited because the only things they could purchase
were flour, sugar, lard, baking powder, cinnamon, and canned milk.

Helen Purviance and Margaret Sheldon decided doughnuts were the best option and between the two of them, they patted
out the dough, formed the doughnut and fired-up the the pot-bellied stove to churn out some 'lovin' fresh from the oven'.
No 'Hot Now' sign was needed to let people know the doughnuts were hot off the stove. Word spread fast and the boys
lined up for the tasty treats from the ladies. They could only fry seven at a time in the frying pan so although the girls
worked late into the night, they could serve only 150 doughnuts the first day. Get this though. As they developed their system
and got help, they fried from 2,500 to 9,000 doughnuts daily, as did other ladies along the frontline trenches!

These girls were in real war trenches! People were being shot, wounded, killed, blown up around them!
They saw death all around them. In the midst of this chaos they embodied the love and compassion of Jesus.
They cared about the lives of the people they were serving. They got involved in the chaos and immediate story of their lives.
They tended to the whole person – body, mind & spirit. Their doughnut shop offered a rest from the chaos. A reprieve…
sanctuary if you will. The compassion went beyond the doughnuts and food for the soul. During major fighting engagements,
they often worked in field hospitals and took part in the burials of soldiers each afternoon by singing, praying and leaving wild flowers at the graves

 
 

Recent college graduates joined the Red Cross to serve refreshments and present
recreational programs to American servicemen in Vietnam.
Credit Larry Ray/American Red Cross
DOC WOULD LIKE TO GET THE NAMES OF ALL THESE DOLLIES

Programming out on Americal firebases. March/April, 1969. Mary Laraine "Larry" Young Hines, Lexington, NC
LZ Center. Off to work we go! Riding with the Americal door gunners.
Photo from Mary Laraine "Larry" Young Hines 1969

Programming and giving out Red Cross short-timers calendars on Americal firebases near Chu Lai and Duc Pho. April, 1969
Photo from Mary Laraine "Larry" Young Hines 1969

 

 DOLLIES RECEIVE SPECIAL AWARDS
VVA 2015 SPRINGFIELD, IL.CONVENTION

Jan Woods (Korea and VN), Linda Cranor (Korea DD), Jeanne Christie(Sam) (VN)
 
 

Donut Dollies pose in the doorway of a Huey at Da Nang in September 1971.
(Photo courtesy of Ann Muchmore)
READ THE STORY - HISTORYNET

 

Emily Strange - Donut Dollie
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
"Doc's Very Dear Friend"

 Emily - Memoirs From Nam

 Dollies Emily & Barb Sing "Homecoming"

CREDITS TO VIETNAM MAGAZINE


 

THANKS JEANNE CHRISTIE (DOLLIE) FOR THESE PHOTOS
Nam Dollies Pat Rowan, Kit Sparrow Cotton, Sam & Huey 369 chopper crew

Nam Dollies Nancy Warner, Beth Bryan Critton, Pat Rowan, Sam, Kit Cotton
Huey 369

 
 

From right, the Dollie with long dark ponytail....
Karen Ridenour, Laurel Veselsky, Ruth?, and on the left is Marcia Martin
LZ Baldy Area

 Dollies Emily & Barb - Incoming
1969 Vietnam War song.
Performed and written by Emily Strange, an American Red Cross Donut Dolly with the 9th Infantry
Division and Mobile Riverine Force in Vietnam (1968-69) and Barbara Hager of the
US Army Special Services - Dong Tam, Vietnam (1969).

 Don't Forget the Doughnut Dollies

 Donut Dollies /Vietnam Nurses  A Miracle at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

 A Red Cross Girl: Erna Torney's Story
The story of Erna Torney, a Red Cross girl who served on a B-24 Air Force base in England during WWII.
 

Dixie Ferguson,
Donut Dolly, 1966-67 (An Khe, Long Binh) Vietnam

 

Sheila Shanahan (L) and Suzanne Shoemaker ( Fortune)
May, 1970 at Con Thien, FSB A4
Bob Brunette photo
 

Five friends from Vietnam held a Dollie reunion in Lake Oswego, Oregon in 2012.
Here is the way they were in 1969:
Front row, Jane Smith and Jenny Young. Back row, Tara de Arrietta, Linda Bryant and Linda Driscoll
 

Holley Watts class of Donut Dollies, 1966

Holly Watts

Holley Watts is one of those women women who brought comfort and smiles to troops in Vietnam.
Acting as a "reminder of home," she would boost troop morale by visiting hospitals, playing games, and aiding the homesick.
She was a Donut Dolly. Hear her tell her story at The Wall on Veterans Day 2013

 
 

That Dollie on the left with Wes, is Linda ( Nikki) Swenson now Linda Cranor
She would like other Dollies from Korea at that time to contact her.
They told me everybody asked for their Red Cross pin.
And they couldn't give them away. This Dollie made an exception....
Pictures and memories from Wes Guidry
These are from Korea 1970-71. Delta Battery, 7th Battalion (HAWK), 2nd Brigade (ADA).

The Dollie On The left In Korea - Her Name Was Holly

The Dollie On The Right In Korea drinking Heineken - not Koolaid
Dollie Below playing baseball with the Troops

 
 

Jeanne Christie aka Sam @ Freedom Hill  Vietnam  1967
Pic sent to Doc Dentice From MSgt, USMC/USAF  V.V.A. Oahu Chapter 858
He would like to thank you for your service in Vietnam.
 

Jackie (Lively) Norris
Donut Dollie / Vietnam
Retired / Denver Colorado

 

Donut Dollies
Deidre O'Brien, Jan Signedson, Charlotte Connor, Lizann Malleson.
April 7, 1968  Vietnam
from war-stories.com

These Pictures Above and Below
From Kammy McCleery In Picture Above @ Nui Dat
DD Vietnam 7/67-8/68
 

Artwork For The Dollies By Rich Boone Prentiss

 

 Donut Dollies - Service And Sacrifice
 
 

Dollies At Camp Radcliff   An Khe, Vietnam 1967
Picture sent to Doc from Bennie Koon
bek082346@gmail.com
Mary (L) Margie Holt(R)

Camp Radcliff  Vietnam   Pics from Tom Crawley
Dollie on the left ??  Margie Holt(R)

 

Doc has the MP3 if you want to hear a WWII Donut Dollie story.

Donut Dollies Honored in Milwaukee, WI. Memorial Day Parade

FROM NURSETOGETHER.COM
 

I don't know their names - they were in our lives for only a couple of hours but they were a very nice couple of hours.
The picture was Christmas Day, 1966 in a rubber plantation not far from Blackhorse Base Camp.
The Dollies are entertaining F Troop, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.
Glad to see your Donut Dollies Tribute website - those ladies deserve recognition.
They had no political axe to grind, they weren't getting rich and they were a long way from home.
They were there only to make us feel good..
Howard C. Batt, Esq.  -  Clearwater, Florida
 

web.pdx.edu

Jackson Library, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
I was in VN 70-71, stationed at Chu Lai, Cam Ranh Bay, and Phan Rang…..
Dale "Paige" Dempsey (right) and fellow Red Cross worker Diane Johnson lead a quiz game
for six pictured servicemen as a part of recreation activities at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, in 1968
 

Courtesy of  koreaatourofduty.us
 

Emily & Julie at Doc's
Wisconsin POW-MIA Balloon Launch in Milwaukee

 

Wow.  Just visited your Donut Dollie Tribute.
Thanks Doc so much for doing this......and thank you for your service.
Joyce Rice Denke - Donut Dollie
Vietnam 70-71, Danang and Cam Rahn Bay
Riesel, Texas
jdenke@embarqmail.com

Photos courtesy of  Mary Ellen McKeny - Donut Dollie - Vietnam
Nov 66 - Oct 67; Danang / An Khe and Cu Chi
The Dollie top row (R) is Mary Ellen Supak Ypsilanti, MI.

Donut Dollie Reunion  July 2010  St Petersburg, Florida
Thanks Mary Jo Schenk

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Donut Dollie Photos In Vietnam

Pictures For Doc's Dollie Site Courtesy Of Sharon Cummings - Donut Dollie

Dollies At The 2007 Dallas Reunion - Sharon is bottom center in pink.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DOLLIES AT CHICAGO WELCOME HOME PARADE 1986
 

Ginnie & Lori
April 1968 in Phu Loi. Vietnam
Thanks Curt Lance - C Co, 1st Bn, 28th Inf, 1st Inf Div...

Maggie Ware Pierson - TeT 1968 - Saigon Vietnam

Jeanne Marie Bokina Christie aka"Sam"
DONUT DOLLIE - VIETNAM - 1967 in Phan Rang
Served In: Nha Trang, Da Nang, Phan Rang
 

According to the Red Cross Museum, a total of 899 Donut Dollies served in South Korea from
1953 to 1973 traveling almost three million miles by jeep and helicopter.
Another 627 served with the SRAO in Vietnam from 1962 to 1973.

Americal Donut Dollies - Vietnam - Thanks A Company 4/3 for the Pics
 

SGT OWENS  with 2 DONUT DOLLIES  ON FIREBASE CHARLE 2  ON
THE DMZ with 1st Bn 61st Infantry 5th Divison  May 1971
Dollies Susie Quinn & Margo Smith(Timberlake)
 
 

American Red Cross - Vietnam AFVN Radio

 

Members and supporters of Vietnam Veteran's Chapter 767, of Racine Wisconsin portray Donut Dollies in the annual July 4th parade.
Donut Dollies was the affectionate name given to American Red Cross Recreational Workers in Vietnam.
These young women brought a "Touch Of Home" to our troops serving in combat zones.

THANKS STEVE - MONROE UTAH

Just wanted to thank you Doc
I was in Vietnam as a "DD" in 69-70 at
Cu  Chi, Cam Ranh Bay and Phan Rang
Marrilee Shannon
www.mkshannon.com

Doc, here is a photo of a group of Donut Dollies in the field. We
were stationed with the 25th Infantry in Cu Chi. This was taken in
early 1970. MK Shannon is front & center. I had this picture taken to send to
my Dad. I was an Air Force brat.

This is from the Air Force Base in Phan Rang
Du Drop Inn - Red Cross Recreation Center.
Dollie Marrilee Shannon is on the right
Dollie Sandy Fondong on the left
 

PLATOON
By Minda Armstrong
I watch her eyes dance to the memory screened before her.
As cast in stone, her body is a speechless monument to buried truths of glory.
Her silence is broken by questions of what was-
With answers of what should never have been.
Her smiles and play-games, mere diversion from death, cloaked the ghosts of an unspoken war.
Dedicated to the "Donut Dollies" of the Red Cross
 

Redcross - Vietnam Sanctuary
nscda.org

THE GALS DRESSED IN POWDER BLUE…

What's a girl doing in a place like this?
You were all so beautiful and full of grace
We could not take our eyes off their round eyes or their legs
And the way the area smelled when they were around
Set our heads and hearts a spinning
They were the girls from back home
That came to help us forget for a while where we were
We called you our Donut Dollies
But they were much more than that to us
You were our moms, our sisters, our girlfriends and wife's
Who brought to us a sense of sanity in an insane world of war
They touched not only our hands, they touch our hearts
But more than that they touched our souls
They shared with us the same hardships, the same sadness,
The same joys that war brings to the mind, heart, and soul
These girls in blue gave us hope, and they gave us love
They gave us themselves in a moment in time
The journey we shared made us brothers and sisters
And a few became our soul-mates of the soul
Thank you for being there, thank you for playing the games,
Serving us meals, for singing to us, and loving us when
So few cared about us from back home
We used to call you our Donut Dollies
But now we call you our heroes dressed in powder blue
We are still amazed by your round eyes and legs
For all of us are still dreaming the dreams of 20 year olds
And we still see you through the eyes of innocent boys
Becoming old men before our time
We found that blue is a great color to wear to a war

©Copyright November 15, 2008 by Kerry "Doc" Pardue
 

Nancy Smoyer
Red Cross "Donut Dolly" in Vietnam in '67-'68, stationed at An Khe, Danang and Cu Chi
Virtual Vietnam Wall Volunteer

ournostalgicmemories.blogspot.com

Fact
627 Donut Dollies served in Vietnam
$4,800 Approximate annual starting salary
2 million Miles traveled in jeeps, trucks and helicopters
7 years Length of program in Vietnam

Susan Bradshaw McLean
(Donut Dollie in Vietnam 1970 -71)
An Khe in the Central Highlands

Ginny Kirsch
Donut Dollie-CuChi Vietnam
YOU ARE MISSED GREATLY BY SO MANY........
(Ironic to Doc Dentice to here this story-He was stationed at the 25th at the 25th Med Bn.
which was very close to Ginnys billet area.)But in 67/68-much earlier.
And the fact that this Vet who admitted Killing Ginny, was transferred to Wood, Wisconsin which is
part of the Zablocki VA grounds next to the now Miller Park is surreal.
Doc left Nam in July 68 and worked a mile away from Wood - VA Grounds.
I hung around this entire area for many years.
That he was just released into Milwaukee, and that was that, is pathetic.
Ginny  was Susans best friend in Vietnam..
Both met in training in Wash.D.C.
"Ginny is dead. She was murdered last night by a soldier at Cu Chi."
Susan couldn't hear anything after that. She thought "Oh my God no! It can't be true." But it was true!
Ginny was stabbed to death by a GI in her billet at the headquarters of the 25th Infantry.
She had been there only one week.
The Red Cross billet was less that 200 yards from division headquarters and only 100 yards from the Officer's Club.
The billets were under military police guard at night.
Ginny was the first Red Cross worker to have been murdered in the 17-year history of overseas service.
Back at The Wall now, Susan once again feels the pain and anger of Ginny's loss.
She is outraged at the tragic irony of Ginny being murdered by someone she came to serve.
She laments the great injustice of her killer being honorably discharged and residing comfortably in the air-conditioned confines of a psychiatric ward.
And Susan is disappointed that the only recognition of Ginny's sacrifice is her name on a rock in the Red Cross headquarters' garden.
Ginny is a patriot who gave her life for her country.
She has earned a place on The Wall. But her name is not there! And her presence is sorely missed.
 READ THE STORY ABOUT GINNY

Best Documentary - AKA Donut Dollies
 

These three pictures were taken at FSB Veghel - I Corps - the summer of 1970.

173rd Airborne - Vietnam - 1968

Don Aird
1/83rd field artillery

I love the Donut Dollies and give each and every one of them the credit
they deserve for coming over there and visiting with us.
I remember the first time I saw them after not seeing a round eye for a couple months.
It took my breath away, I was scared to talk to them for fear they weren't real.
Each time was really a special occasion.
God bless them all.  My hats off to each and every one of them.
Thank You girls for serving your country and thank you for your unselfish act.
You all deserve your very own Award Plaque and a Flag officiated by the United States
of America designated to the Doughnut Dollies of America.
THANK YOU for your service! Sincerly:Roger Bombardier Sp-5 a Vietnam Veteran 69-70
 

 Hello Donut Dollies

One-time 'Donut Dolly' Has a Lasting Red Cross Connection
Debby MacSwain is nothing if not humble. "Let me tell you who you should really do a story on," she said.
From those words, you would never guess that she has 44 years of American Red Cross service under her belt.

Dollie Deborah MacSwain with an unidentified soldier in Vietnam in 1969

falmanac.blogspot.com

Beth Bryan Critton
Thanks Carrie - I salute your Mom for her service to our Veterans in Vietnam!....Jeff Doc Dentice - Vietnam Medic
Couture Carrie, an East Coast girl who tracks down the latest trends from YSL, Thakoon and all
your other favourites, tells us why her mother still has her
wearing bell bottoms and vintage synthetics, and how it all started with wartime slide shows.
My earliest true fashion icon was my mother. By the time I understood the intrinsic power of fashion -
subscribing to Vogue at age 12 and saving my babysitting money
to buy clothes - my mother's style had (d)evolved into a fairly utilitarian soccer-mom sort of chic
that I had no desire to emulate. My inspiration derived, rather, from her past.
My mother was a Donut Dolly with the Red Cross during the Vietnam War,
and she and her fellow Dollies would often put on "fashion shows" for the soldiers in Vietnam to entertain them...
 

By SHARON LONGMAN
Special to The Oakland Press
Joann Kotcher was a "Donut Dolly" during the Vietnam War.

 A Vietnam Christmas - Donut Dollie Elizabeth Arant West
 

The recruitment ad circa 1967 asked "Are you creative?
Could you develop an interesting program on travel, holidays, sports, music,or current events?
The American Red Cross Needs Qualified Young Women Who Are Willing To Serve One Year Overseas….
" Among the qualifications: "The job requires considerable ingenuity and a capacity for hard work under far less than ideal conditions.
" More than 600 young, college-degreed women took the job.
The Vietnam War Donut Dolllies hopped helicopters and duece-and-a-halfs to combat zones armed only with a smile and a bag of games,
bringing "round eyes" and a touch of home to troops in the field.
Three decades after the war, they tell their untold story.

Arrowhead Films, who made the touching movie
"In the Shadow of the Blade"
has created a documentary about the Donut Dollies.

"A TOUCH OF HOME:
THE VIETNAM WAR'S RED CROSS GIRLS"

The World Premiere of this movie was in Dallas, Texas.
April 21, 2007

For details contact: donutdolliereunion@yahoo.com

View photos and film clips at:
www.arrowheadfilms.com/atouchofhome.html

The women who served in the American Red Cross Supplemental Recreation Activities Overseas (SRAO) program
that we refer to as "Donut Dollies" were  civilians.  We volunteered to go to war and, for the most part, could
choose where we were stationed (not the unit, but the country) and when we left.
Regarding the name, Donut Dolly.  We didn't make or serve donuts--too hot!  In fact, there were no donut
machines in Vietnam and most of don't recall ever having seen any donuts during our entire tour.

Here's a little history about the name.  It was the GIs in Korea (in the 1950's) who gave the Red Cross Recreation workers
the nickname, "Donut Dolly."  The women had donut machines and could make up to 20,000 donuts a day when the
troop ships came in.  As you can see they earned that name!   We just inherited it.
 

 Donut Dollies: Women in Vietnam
Sharon (Vander Ven) Cummings
ARC SRAO (Donut Dollie)
South Vietnam
April 1966 – April 1967
 

Dec.25,1970
Around or near Hiep Duc Valley
Dollie Margo Smith on the left
Anyone know the other Dollie?
3rd platoon, Co. A, 4/31st, 196th, Americal troops
So far, no one on the Donut Dollie list has been able to identify the 2 DDs in the photo.
However, it has brought up an interesting discussion about how the rules changed ......................
or more accurately were ignored ...between when the first DDs went in country '65-'66 and
when they were pulled out '70-71 ...such as the length of uniform skirts and physical contact with the men.
Thanks for the memories.
See you  Doc in New Glarus,WI. for Winterfest 2012
Emily
 

In the Middle of World War I, millions of homesick American "doughboys" were served up countless
doughnuts by women volunteers, trying to give the soldiers a taste of home.
 

Asheville VA Medical Center - Asheville, NC

'Donut Dolly' serving in Iraq
35 years and still going strong

By Spc. Blanka Stratford
CFLCC PAO

CAMP ANACONDA, Iraq (March 19, 2004) - During the Vietnam War, the American Red Cross provided aide to
U.S. servicemembers as well as Vietnamese refugees. At the height of its involvement in 1968, the Red Cross sent approximately 480
field directors, hospital personnel, and recreation assistants to support the growing number of servicemen at various bases and hospitals.
Virginia Wren, now serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, was one of these people.
Wren was a 7th grade teacher in 1968 when she decided to take a leap of chance and go to an employment agency,
asking for public service work and travel. They offered her Girl Scouts or the Red Cross.
While Wren was in Vietnam, the Red Cross also lost one woman named Hannah Crews.
The closure, said Wren, came in 1993, when the Women Veterans Parade Group had the Women Veterans of Vietnam memorial in
Washington D.C. Hannah's father came to meet the Doughnut Dollies, helping them through unshed tears.
Immediately after Vietnam, Wren went to the Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, hospital to take care of fellow veterans. She did hospital service
from the early to mid-70s, then spent most of the 80's working for the Red Cross in Germany. From 1991 to 1993, she served in the
first Persian Gulf War. Following the Gulf War, she arrived in Landstuhl, Germany, six days before the Sarajevo bombing. She stayed in
Germany until 1997, and then served in Korea and Japan until 1999.
"One of the happiest moments in my life occurred right after I arrived in Landstuhl," she said. "I ran into a soldier at the main intersection
who recognized me from the 47th Field Hospital in Bahrain. He came up to me and said, 'you were the one who
gave me my first birth announcement, and this is my son."
Wren said she was absolutely delighted.
Currently, Wren's permanent station is at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, N. Carolina. She is scheduled to stay in Iraq
until June 2004 and will then leave for the Azores Islands off the coast of Portugal, having completed more than 35 years of Red Cross service.
"I plan on staying with the Red Cross as long as it remains fun and I can pass the physical," said Wren.

Photo courtesy of David Bledsoe
Donut Dollies at Firebase Moore-Vietnam

Photos by Sharon (Vander Ven) Cummings
(Doughnut Dolly)Vietnam

Sharon (Vander Ven) Cummings in her Class A Uniform
in Washington DC before heading off to Vietnam, April 1966

The Sandpipers, performers were (bottom, left to right):
1st Row: Skip Stiles, Sharon (Vander Ven) Cummings, Barry Curtis
2nd Row: Tom Appleby, Bill Bates
3rd Row: Bobbi (Hudson) Crocker, Sara (Yapple) Varney

               Cam Ranh Bay                       Long Binh: Lindsey with soldiers

Alice  in our recreation center (Cam Ranh Bay)    Catching our bus after work from Long Binh back to Bien Hoa

Patty at Long Binh                     Jan holding a new puppy

Soldiers arriving for programming by the Red Cross girls in Dau Tieng

Chris saying goodby to the soldiers moving from Tay Ninh to Da Nang
 

THANKS TO PATRIOTIC POSTERS
FOR USE OF THIS PICTURE!
The Vietnam War (1962-1974)
      In 1962, the Red Cross sent its first paid field staff to Vietnam to assist the growing
           number of servicemen at various bases and hospitals. At the height of its involvement in
             Vietnam in 1968, 480 field directors, hospital personnel, and recreation assistants served
         throughout Southeast Asia. Red Cross workers, who provided 1.9 million services to
       U.S. military personnel, shared the hardships and privations of war with the soldiers.
        Five Red Cross staff members gave their lives, and many others were injured as they
           helped servicemen resolve personal problems or get home when emergency leave was
granted due to death or serious illness in the immediate family. Male nurses and
sanitarians sponsored by the Red Cross worked with Indochinese refugees in
            cooperation with the South Vietnam Red Cross and the U.S. Agency for International
  Development. When Vietnam veterans returned to the United States, Red Cross
                     volunteers and paid staff concentrated on helping them readjust to civilian life, often
assisting them with paperwork connected with their benefits.
Recreation workers boost morale of
American troops during Vietnam War

  Bound by its charter to provide welfare services to the able-bodied troops on duty, the American Red Cross
   engaged in efforts to sustain the morale of the troops in Vietnam, just as it had during the Korean War and previous
         conflicts. In response to a request by the military, the American Red Cross sent teams of young female college
        graduates to Southeast Asia to conduct audience-participation recreation programs for men stationed in isolated section  of the region.
For example, the recreation worker pictured above checks a GI's blindfold during a game
           at Fire Base Jamie, one of several front-line areas visited regularly by American Red Cross. A monthly average of
          280,500 servicemen took part in recreation programs at twenty major military commands. Officials estimate that the
clubmobile workers, who traveled by jeep, truck, and helicopter, logged over 2,125,000 miles during the program's
 seven-year history. Trained Red Cross personnel also engaged in therapeutic recreation, which was geared to
        patients' individual rehabilitation needs. In 1976, despite protests from commanding officers, the recreation programs was drastically
reduced in a cost-reduction action that removed professional recreation personnel from military hospitals.
 

There were three categories of Red Cross Workers in Vietnam

SMH "Service to Military Hospitals"

These women and men worked in the hospitals directly with the
patients, doing a combination of social work and recreatio therapy.

 SMI "Service to Military Installations"
These women and men were the Red Cross social workers who
arranged compassionate emergency leaves and received and
 passed on communications from the families back home
    regarding births, deaths, and emergencies.

SRAO "Supplemental Recreational Activities Overseas"

    These women were the Donut Dollies.  Their job was to provide
   "a touch of home in a combat zone."  They brought games and
    kool-aid and a respite from thinking about the war to men in the field.
 

Glenna (Sheeran) Terrell
was a Donut Dolly in CuChi, Vietnam 1967
Doc Dentice was there in 67/68 in CuChi with the 25th Med.Bn.
Dear Doc,
First off, I would like to thank you for your wonderful and informative
Vietnam website.  Both of my parents were in the war (they met
in-country in 1967 and were married a year later) so I really appreciate
reading about other's experiences and trials through the war.  I grew up
hearing all about my parent's experiences, so I honestly feel very close
to the Vietnam War and its veterans.  Thank you for your service.  My
reason for this letter is about your "Donut Dolly" section which
discusses the Red Cross girls' work in the war.  My mother, Glenna
(Sheeran) Terrell was a Donut Dolly from 1966-67 with the 4th ID, 25th
ID, and finally the 1st ID.  As I looked through the site, I was amazed
to find a picture of her serving coffee to some of the troops in Cu Chi,
were she was originally stationed.  She had never seen that picture and
I still can't believe I just happened to come across it online.  (I've
attached the picture from your site as well).  She is very interested in
contacting some of her old "war buddies", so any information you have on
this, we'd really appreciate. Thank you again for your site, I am as
always very appreciative of your and all of the veteran's service to our
nation, especially during such a turbulent time in our history.  I hope
that my generation is as committed to service as yours was.  Thank you again.
V/R   CDT LT Casey Terrell  AR
Class of 2004  USMA
For Country and Corps

Dollie Sue Dixon
standing by APC, north of the Imjin, September1967

Dollie Liz Drosdick
And SSG Ken Parker, in front of Peace Pagoda, JSA- Panmunjom July 1967

WOMEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN WAR

 WORLD WAR I WOMEN

Dollies Sunny Sanow and Betty Denney in ROK cargo plane on travel run to Kwang-ju, Winter 1968. Clubmobile
workers in Taegu had overnight travel runs to Support Command in Pusan, 2 hours south by train; to KMAG units
in Kwang-ju and Suncheon, west over the mountains by ROK cargo plane, Beaver, and once in a Birddog with a
ROK pilot who spoke no English or if no plane, 7-10 hours by jeep; and to KMAG in Kyong-Ju and Pohang,
east to the coast of the East Sea, 5 hours by Scout or Jeep. .....Submitted by B
 

WORLD WAR II WOMEN

Kathi Neal and Pat Custer in the back of a ¾ ton truck, Winter 1968 .....
Submitted by Betty Denney, Red Cross Donut Dollie, Korea 1967/68
 

 WOMEN IN THE KOREAN WAR

Some of our pilots at Camp Page, Spring 1968. Left to right, CWO2 Dennis Rudel, 4th Missile Command;
Mele Sturm, Donut Dollie from California; and WO1 Earle Irwin, 6th Aviation Platoon, standing in front of a
U-6 Beaver. .....Submitted by Betty Denney, Red Cross Donut Dollie, Korea 1967/68

They were in the "Great War" too. Donut Dollies pass out coffee and, you guessed it, doughnuts
 

I had the privilege on working with the Ladies at the Red Cross Center at the end of 1967.
I was assigned to them as a punishment detail but it was the most rewarding part of my tour.
I built bookcases, paneled & hung parachuts in their rooms and drove them around Camp Radcliff.
They had a Christmas diner for the children of An Khe that would break your heart. I have no idea what happened to
The Red Cross or nurses assigned to the woman compound at Camp Radcliff but I hope and pray they are all well.
Tom Whitfield
TWhitfi156@aol.com

The Red Cross Recreation Center at Cam Ranh Army
Open from 10 am to 10 pm - 7 days a week!

 A  DONUT  DOLLY'S  VOICE

They were in the "Great War" too. Donut Dollies pass out coffee and, you guessed it, doughnuts.

The American Red Cross - "Donut Dollies"
           The Red Cross sent the first of its personnel into
           South Vietnam in 1962. The last of them left 11
           years later in March of 1973. In that time 1,120
           civilian women volunteered for and served in
           Vietnam, fulfilling a variety of missions and rolls
           lending medical and administrative support to
           military hospitals and other installations. 627 of
           these women served in the SRAO program &151;the
           Supplemental Recreation Activities Overseas
           program. They were the "Donut Dollies"

At the request of the military, the Red Cross sent
           teams of young women, college graduates all, to
           Vietnam. Their mission was to operate the Red Cross
           Recreation Centers and conduct "audience
           participation recreation programs." For the soldiers,
           the SRAO program provided them with the
           opportunity to "hang-out" with pretty girls from back
           home, play games, do crafts, and for just a moment,
           forget where they were and what they were doing. It
           was as though the Red Cross had sent these young
           women to the other side of the planet to establish a
           summer camp for soldiers. But such seemingly small
           diversions made all the difference in world to the
           men and their morale.

           Based on average figures, 285,000 servicemen took
           part in the Donut Dollies' activities. The Red Cross
           estimates that these women logged 2,125,000 miles
           in all varieties of transport. In all, 28 "Donut Dolly"
           units were in operation throughout the country during
           the war.

           The Donut Dollies shared the same hardships and
           made the same sacrifices as the military personnel
           they served and served with. They also shared in the
           danger. Three Red Cross Donut Dollies died "in
           country." A fourth was lost in 1975 in the tragic plane
           crash of a humanitarian effort to airlift Vietnamese
           orphans to safety before the fall of Saigon.

           Many of the women who served their country in
           Vietnam as Red Cross volunteers, continue their
           volunteer work to this day both for the Red Cross and
           other organizations. Many are active in the Vietnam
           Women's Memorial Project.
 

"The picture was taken on top of Nui Ba Den in
  December of 1968. It shows Donut Dollies singing
 Christmas carols for a bunch of us Grunts in the 25th
        Infantry Division (Alpha Co. 3/22)."
  Jim Farrell
This number of women was very unusual as Donut
Dollies usually worked in pairs when not at base  camps.
 

Emily Strange (Milwaukee,Wi.)
Donut Dollies Emily Strange & Sherry
 

An American Red Cross Donut Dollie
with the 9th Infantry Division
and Mobile Riverine Force in  VIETNAM

Emily's Donut Dolly site
Doc & Emily are good Friends
Emily has helped Doc with his Christmas With TheVets show in MIlwaukee

 

WISCONSIN DONUT DOLLYS
According to our official list - Nam and Korea:
First Name  Maiden Name  Last Name
Ann  Higgins  Kilander
Diane  Anderson  Hunt
Diane  Reddeman  Lee
Diane  Schmidt  Curly
Diane  Steinhauser  Shufelt
Emily  Strange
Jane  Happle  Drake
Mary  DeLaForest  Evans
Norma  Roska  Johnson
Susan  Filipszak  Rogge
Virginia  Close
Kay Ward is living in LaCrosse
List does not have those of us who lived and were raised in WI yet but is a start.
Jeanne Christie

Christmas Photo, Red Cross Clubmobile Unit, Camp Henry, 8th Army Depot Command, Taegu, December 1967.
(standing left) Val Gardner from Phoenix, AZ (standing right) Mary Kennon Barksdale, Danville, VA (seated left to right) Pat Custer, Wauwautosa, WI;
Betty Denney, Amarillo, TX; Cissy Nichol, Griffin, GA; Mazie Scotchmer, St. Louis, MO; Kathi Neal, Atlanta, GA. .....
Submitted by Betty Denney, Red Cross Donut Dollie, Korea 1967/68

I just happened upon your site
http://www.war-veterans.org/Redcross.htm and found my favorite
sister listed as one of the Wisconsin Donut Dollies.
Dianne Elizabeth Roshto Gustafson
had just graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi,
Hattiesburg, Mississippi when she decided to join
the American Red Cross.  She was subsequently sent to Taegu, Republic of South Korea.

Sister Dianne was about as Southern Belle as one could have been at the time and was 1st runner up
in the Miss Mississippi Beauty Pagent.  Alas, all those years wed to that Swede up in Wisconsin have just about
removed most traces of her drawl - I haven't heard a Y'all in years but lots of Ya's.  Now I realize that her time in Korea
was merely a little cold weather training and blood thickening for her upcoming life in the North Woods of Wisconsin.
This is sister Dianne in 1966.  It's about time these girls were given more recognition.  Good site Doc.Thanks!
Sincerely,
Frank K. Roshto
roshto@gnt.net

Possibly Sue Lewis on the left, Betty Denney on the right-Vietnam 1967
Photo from 1/23 yearbook

Return to Vietnam: A Red Cross Donut Dolly's Trip Back

From album Donut Dollies by member 1ltken
Dollie Laurie Robeson and the 2nd Engineers, north of the Imjin, October 1968.
 

 An American Red Cross Donut Dollie
9th Infantry Division and Mobile Riverine Force in VIETNAM
 

Margaret Perham from Alabama,
writing a new program in the Red Cross Clubmobile office at Camp Red Cloud.....
Submitted by Betty Denney, Red Cross Donut Dollie, Korea 1967/68

 A Donut Dollies Voice

Linda LaScola from New Castle, PA, working on a new program in the Red Cross Clubmobile office at Camp Red Cloud......
Submitted by Betty Denney, Red Cross Donut Dollie, Korea 1967/68

 Dollies Boost Morale

Anne Mears (left) and Cissy Nichols exit the gas tent. ...
Submitted By: Sp5 Craig Iansiti HHB I-Corps (Gp) Artillery, Camp St. Barbara, Korea 1968

 Donut Dollies

Liz Drosdick at the overlook with the Bridge of No Return and North Korea in background, July 1967

 Vietnam -- 1 Year + 25

Jean Chapin And Sue Dixon Red Cross Office,CampPelham,October1967
From album Donut Dollies by member 1ltken

 Genie - A Donut Dolly at Cam Ranh Bay

Betty Denney 1967 From album Donut Dollies by member 1ltken
Red Cross Clubmobile Office, Camp Pelham, October 1967.

Lt Rick Rogers, 1/15 Arty, and Dollie Joanne Printz, from Camp Pelham, in Seoul at Yongsan, October 1967

 Official Red Cross History of the Vietnam War
 

"Now we are four.
Your 101st Airborne Red Cross Girls".
Left to right, they are Sheelagh, Kalamazoo Mich; Jiggie, Honolulu HI;
Lynn, Kellogg ID; Betsy, Knoxville TN.
Photo courtesy of former Ltc, John D. Kennedy, Battalion Commander 101st Airborne,
101st Aviation Battalion, Camp Eagle. circa, 1969

An afternoon of fun and games with the "donut dollies".
Left to right are; Lizann Malleson (unit director), Nancy and Kathy Ormond.

historyimages.blogspot.com
 

en.wikipedia.org

In 1962, the Red Cross sent its first paid field staff to Vietnam
to assist the growing number of servicemen at various bases and hospitals.
At the height of its involvement in Vietnam in 1968, 480 field directors,

Working in the Red Cross office at Camp Pelham, late summer 1967, left to right, Wendy Wendler, Anne Mears,
Judy Hopkins, Jean Chapin (behind stove)......Submitted by Betty Denney, Red Cross Donut Dollie, Korea 1967/68

Holley Watts

Christmas In Korea
A group of 2nd Division Donut Dollies pose on a truck driven by Santa
from koreaatourofduty.us

Red Cross Clubmobile Unit, Camp Pelham, October 1967,
left to right, Claudia Fields, Judy Hopkins, Zella Michael, Helen Krebsbach,
Jean Chapin, Wendy Wendler, Anne Mears, Joanne Printz......
Submitted by Betty Denney, Red Cross Donut Dollie, Korea 1967/68

 

Members of the 127th Signal BN have their spirits lifted by these Donut Dollies who visit them while in the field. .....
Submitted By: Sp4 Jim Towery, A Company 127th signal BN, 1966/67

 Holley McAleese & Nancy O'Neill  Aug '67

Holley November '66 Danang

Never Forget
Hannah  E.  Crews    Died in a jeep accident, Bien Hoa, October 2, 1969
Virginia  "Ginny"  Kirsch     Murdered by a U.S. soldier in Cu Chi, August 16, 1970
Lucinda  J.  Richter    Died of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Cam Ranh Bay, February 9, 1971

Doughnut Dollies Vietnam
In Remembrance

I want to credit all pictures to their respective owners. If anyone sees
a picture on this web site that is yours, and credit is not given, let me know.
 

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